I'm Not Angry
by J-Dove
Summary: Harry was done. He was done, he was leaving, and now he was dead. Next thing he knew, he was reborn as this kid named Rin with a twin brother named Yukio and strange, demonic urges that either made him snarl and bite or want to purr like a kitten. And that's not even mentioning his blue flames. (Maybe lemons. Pairing up for debate. Also, Yaoi accepted.)
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note: Plot Bunnies. Plot Bunnies Everywhere.**

 **Chapter One**

Harry was done.

Done with the Wizarding World, the fame, the expectations that came with being The-Boy-Who-Lived, the weight of the world pressing down on his shoulders. Or, at least, that was how it felt like.

Being isolated, trapped like a puppet dancing to its master's strings, _not in control of his own self._

The first person that rubbed him wrong was Umbridge. He had stormed out of her office clutching his right hand defensively, a bit pale from blood loss and a whirlpool of emotions tearing his gut apart. It was the perfect starting point for the others to build off of and into the present clusterfuck.

The next event that set him off was getting called into Dumbledore's office right afterwards, where the headmaster proceeded to lecture Harry about Duty and Sacrifice and a load of other hogwash.

"My boy," Dumbledore sighed, his eyes showcasing a faint twinkle, "this is all for the greater good, you understand."

Harry was surprised the headmaster had not been incinerated in his seat with the force of his glare.

Harry's sleep that night was fitful, with glowing red torture and the green light of Avada Kedavra swirling around him. The worst part was that Harry was pretty sure those were memories of Voldemort.

The D.A. meeting the next day was almost therapeutic, until Harry thought back on the reason he was doing this in the first place. Teaching these students the magic they _should_ be learning in school, but _aren't_.

Just another drop of rage in the bucket.

Another day went by, dawning into _The Day._

"I don't see what the problem is," Ron was saying. Loudly. In the middle of the Great Hall, for all to hear. "Just throw the Ministry a bone, you know, maybe an interview. Show their good side to the public, and then they'll let off a little. Easy."

Harry felt his anger bloom full force, and after a moment of seeing red used his rudimentary Occlumency to block most of it from coming to the surface. The contrast showed clearly in his magical aura, and Harry saw Luna duck out of the Hall in the corner of his eye, which did nothing to improve his mood.

"I can see how someone like you would think that, certainly," Harry said stiffly. Ron's mouth gaped unattractively, and Draco, sitting a ways away at the Slytherin table, looked as if Christmas had come early.

Later that evening, Harry found himself cornered by Hermione in the library.

"Honestly, Harry," Hermione tsked, "Ron was only trying to help."

"Oh? How about I _help_ him out the nearest exit then, to return the favor," Harry snarled. He felt his flimsy shields crack at the inferno raging underneath, just waiting to overwhelm him.

"Stop being so unreasonable, Harry!" Hermione scolded, and Harry felt something inside him twist and snap.

"All right, Hermione, I'll apologize later. I've just been stressed lately, you know, with the O.W.L.s coming up and all." Harry forced his lips to pull back into a bashfully apologetic smile, and Hermione nodded, satisfied.

"I'm so glad you realized how rude you were being. I'm sure Ron will understand if you tell him how you feel." She looked at him expectantly.

 _No. Just... No._

Though Harry felt as if he was swallowing nails at every word that came out of his mouth, and in the back of his mind he knew he should be screaming and punching something senselessly right about now, his face was the picture of calm and collected. "I'll do that."

But he didn't.

As soon as Hermione left, Harry began stalking towards the Room of Requirement. He had a plan. This plan had been in existence ever since he had seen some of "The Prophecy" in a disastrous Occlumency lesson with Snape. Luckily, he had already made Snape magically swear not to tell anyone what either of them saw during these lessons, so no one else knew he knew.

Unfortunately, it was bloody difficult to escape Dumbledore, let alone the Fate of the world.

Which was why he was leaving this world, too.

Pacing in front of Barmy's painting, who was Magic knows where, Harry thought very carefully through his rage on what he wanted the Room to be.

 _Give me a white room exactly 8' by 8' by 12' feet, with the ceiling being highest. On the ground draw in Kraken Ink a Triquetra inside a circle. On top of that draw a Lemnicate, and have it all the size of my palm. Now around that draw an Enneagram, with the points reaching out to touch the walls, and inside the segments draw the runes Raido, Mannaz, and Perp repeatedly in a radiating pattern. I'll be doing the rest._

Although the simplest and most time-consuming steps were out of the way, it still took a good hour to carefully draw the remaining runes accurately and without making the unstable compilation blow up.

Even now, Harry wasn't sure if it would work. This was complex magic, and even with his prodigious talent in Runework he was nowhere near able to make something like this.

Which was why he copied most of it from various theory work in Slytherin's journals (found in the Chamber of Secrets, and written in Parseltongue), and added a shitload of Luck, Chance, and Karma symbols to it.

He had the Devil's luck, and he was sure as hell going to make good use of it.

And if it still didn't work...

 _"After all, to the well-organized mind, death is but the next great adventure."_

Silently asking the Room for a knife, he cut open his wrist, blood dripping in a macabre display. Taking in a deep breath, he focused himself and pushed all of his magic into the Runework.

" _Pare me makria_ ," Harry whispered.

Lights flashed behind tightly screwed shut eyes, but the world was completely silent except for himself.

 _Thu-dump. Thu-dump. Thu..._

In hindsight, it was a pretty bad idea to dimension travel inside a pocket space.

* * *

Harry knew immediately that he did not succeed in being transported. After all, people transported to different worlds did not become... babies.

 _Or did they?_

Shaking the thought off, Harry tried to focus on his situation. He had a mom now, right? And a dad?

Harry found that idea... tolerable.

Still, baby Harry could not see a thing. Scratch that. He could see, but it was all a blur. The only thing he could make out was a bright, comforting blue.

In fact, he was pretty sure he could _feel_ the blue as well, like his magic. Come to think of it, his magic felt a little strange, and he should really be more worried about it, but...

There was blue. _Right in front of his face._

Harry began to make out voices. Low and gentle, loving, familiar.

 _Mother?_

At the thought, Harry smiled.

More words, in a language he could not understand. Hushed and shaken, then another one, laughing carelessly. Angry voices.

Suddenly, Harry felt the blue energy he now recognized as flames leave him, being siphoned away callously.

 _No! Not the Blue! My Blue!_

His face scrunched up, ready to burst into tears at any moment, but he held off long enough to follow the thin line of power connecting him to his Blue.

 _There._

Harry relaxed. He could work with this. His Blue wasn't _gone,_ just... Withheld.

He felt himself getting angry again, but quickly calmed himself. He could still access them, if he tried hard enough to follow the feeling. And besides! He was free now! No more Wizarding World, Boy-Who-Lived, or any Prophecy! He was free!

 _Completely... free._

Harry let out a relieved, childish laugh.

 _..._

 _He was still beating up whoever sealed away his Blue, though._

* * *

Turns out, his parents were dead.

He knew this because his mother had yet to make an appearance since that first time - _and didn't she sound weak, breathless, sickly? You need to notice these things, Harry-_ and Harry knew for a fact that the man taking care of him wasn't his father. He didn't know how he knew, he just... did. It was instinctual.

A lot of things were instinctual now.

Still, Harry - _Rin, now-_ Rin made sure his first word in this new, strange language was Daddy. The man was a good father, especially considering he wasn't the calmest baby.

(He cried. He cried from all these powerful _emotions_ that would spiral in his small body, too big to suppress and he unable to release them. They came and went, but when they did come, they _exploded._ )

Rin also had a twin brother, named Yukio. At first, he wasn't sure how to feel about that. He had never had a brother before. The closest thing to it would have to be Dudley, which was...

Well.

But Rin quickly grew to like Yukio. Mainly when his brother was being especially adorable by cuddling with him inside the cradle, or when his brother made that cute laugh of his, or when he threw that absolutely charming baby tantrum...

Rin really loved Yukio.

But aside from the new developments in his social life, Rin noticed some other changes. Some other... _nonhuman_ changes.

There were these little black creatures in the air, buzzing around lazily. Rin made sure to ignore them, in case they took offense and attacked him. He could hardly defend himself in his helpless and weak and delicate baby body and- _Don't think about it._

Other than that, there were the more direct changes. Mainly, his senses. His nose was very good, better than his last life. Which was saying something, considering how _b_ _abyish_ he was now.

He was pretty sure he was stronger as well. It was hard to tell, but babies weren't supposed to be crawling at four months, right? Yukio was crawling at five months, but they were twins. He was bound to be weird as well.

His hearing was sharp. He picked up the language quickly, with the sort of instinctual ease that reminded him of speaking parseltongue.

He could see better now. Better than his last life, what with his glasses.

These were normal things. A bit strange, but he could just pass it off as having a new unfamiliar body if it weren't for one thing.

The Blue Flames.

He could feel them. He could always feel them. He may not be able to sense where they were being contained, but if he just followed the little string tied to his core then he could tug on it a little, just enough to make some sparks. In a way, the seal was strengthening him. The seal did not work to contain the power so much as to move it elsewhere, while his body worked tirelessly to make more of those flames, all without reaching a limit to what he could contain and stopping because the flame would have already left him by then. He was getting _stronger._

He'd be grateful, if it weren't for the fact that _some bastard sealed his flames away away._

That was a bit of a sore point.

His magic was off as well. For one, even though he was a baby again, he wasn't having any accidental magic. _At all._

Sure, it might be because he had technically already trained his magic and tamed it somewhat, but it has been a _two_ _years_ since he casted a spell. Something should have happened by now.

It was as if his magic couldn't come out, which had all sorts of ramifications, none of them good.

Right now he was trying to fix that. He didn't have a wand and he couldn't do wandless magic, so the only thing left were runes.

So now he was in the kitchen with his brother drawing ancient magical symbols of power. With crayons.

He'd made do with less.

 _Think simple, Ha-Rin. Rin. Think simple, Rin. Small stuff, easy and harmless. You are a wizard with a weird nonhuman body living in a Church trying to practice magic. If you mess this up, I'll... I'll..._

Great, now he was talking to himself.

Taking a deep breath, he carefully grabbed a blue crayon, the same color as his flames, and began drawing the _Sowilo_ rune on a blank piece of paper in front of him. The resulting scribble looked like a worm who tried to tie himself in a knot, gave up halfway through, and had a whole family of fellow worms follow his lead.

In short, it was messy, illegible, and all around made him feel shameful as a Runemaster. An amateur Runemaster, but still. _Master_.

Harry sighed, and glanced over at his brother's work. Said brother was making great progress in drawing his cat... dog... walrus...

Maybe it was a kid thing.

 **Pairing suggestions? Suggest away!**

 **Also, despite the rather lighthearted tone to this chapter, this story is kind of dark. Only a bit, but still.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Note: Sorry. Sorry Sorry Sorry.**

 **I _am_ reading your reviews, just so you know. So if I don't answer them in Author's Notes or PMs, relax. Hakuna Matata, and all that.**

 **I have this vague plot for the story. It involves anger issues, sex, and basically a hodgepodge of European based demons (Lucifer, the Seven Sins, etc.) mixed with the Japanese demons (Yomi, Oni, Kitsune...).**

 **Also, I _will_ write a sort of Lime between Rin and Mephisto, but they won't be the main pairing unless you want them to. Just a heads up for future chapters.**

 **Chapter Two**

 _"Boy!" Uncle roared, "Boy, get out here right now!"_

 _The boy shrank further into his hiding place, heart thumping loudly in his ears. He didn't want to come out. If he came out, Uncle would hurt him. But at the same time, if he didn't come out, Uncle would hurt him more later._

 _The boy didn't like pain._

 _"If you don't get your worthless face here this moment I am going to revoke meal privileges for a week! I mean it! I'll tan your hide, you little bastard!"_

 _"Boy!"_

"Rin."

 _"I'll kill you one of these days, I swear!"_

"Rin, wake up," a hand on his shoulder- _it's Uncle he found me he'll hurt me-._

"Rin!"

Rin shot up in his bed with a gasp. Wide, electric blue eyes glanced around wildly, hands curling like claws as he prepared himself to-

 _To do what?_

He forced himself to calm down, breathing in and out slowly, waiting for his heartbeat to settle. Once again he looked around himself, and feral blue met startled grey set on a pale, slightly chubby face.

Rin felt himself relax, a warm smile coming to his lips. "What are you doing here, Yuki?"

Yukio glanced away, hands resting lightly in his lap from where he knelt beside Rin's bed. "Ah... I couldn't sleep, and um... I snuck into your room, but you looked like you were having a nightmare, so, I tried to wake you up, I guess..."

Unable to help himself, Rin reached out to ruffle his twin's hair. "Yeah, I was having a pretty scary dream. That was really smart of you to wake me up, Yuki. "

In response, Yukio beamed at him, eyes squinted slightly as he tried to see past the darkness and his blurry vision.

Rin himself could see just fine. The space around him seemed to be a crisp greyish blue, every ridge and angle in hyper focus to his senses. Even the slight rise and fall of Yuki's chest as he breathed and the small pulsing of the vein in his throat was so clear-.

"So you couldn't sleep, huh?" Rin interrupted his train of thought, remembering the earlier comment. "Wanna come in here?" Rin offered, lifting his blanket away from his body and feeling a rush of cool air.

Yukio nodded shyly, before clambering in and burrowing himself into the blankets. From this angle, the moonlight shining through the window spilled across his cheekbones, making the sickly pale skin shine an ethereal silver. With Rin once again resting under the blankets, they were close enough for their hair to mingle, chestnut brown against inky blue.

Rin sighed. The familiar bloodlust had finally settled, farther from the surface but still there, just waiting for his control to slip to savage once more.

Control. That single word that affected so much of his life. It was his yearning, his jailer, his enemy, and now his necessity.

It had started small at first. Starting at age three he had flashes of irritation. His temper, always so volatile, now needed regular outlets in the form of childish tantrums, little fights with other kids. A small doll, fabric ripped open until the white stuffing spilled from it like red, bloody innards.

Little things.

That lasted around three years. Rin started thinking that this was the worst it would get. Of course, it was around this time that what Rin liked to call Phase Two began.

The super senses he had, were just that, senses. Things he perceived the world around him with, neutral and not at all malicious. Even his newfound instincts, the flashes of intuition, they were good. Helpful.

He should have known it wouldn't last.

Senses. Instincts. Something developed to help an organism thrive in its environment immediately and without training. A rabbit listens for predators, and then runs away. A tiger smells for prey and gives chase. There was no thought in these actions, no rational reasoning. Only senses, and instincts.

The question was, what were _Rin's_ instincts? Prey?

Or predator?

It was just a little scuffle. This brat came around, insulted Yukio in a whiny tone of voice where Rin could hear, and then insulted Rin, too. He was picking a fight, and so Rin, feeling the itch, obliged.

Normally, Rin made sure to be careful. These were little kids he was taking his anger out on after all. He mainly dodged and taunted and generally blew a lot of hot air. Maybe a punch or two would sneak in, but other than some bruises, no one got away with anything more than an injured pride.

That is, until Rin found himself sinking his teeth into a soft neck and tasting blood.

 _Delicious,_ was what drifted across his mind before with a gasp he yanked himself away, staring at the bleeding neck in front of him in shock, horror, and a little bit of hunger.

Just a bit.

Then, because even in a new universe with a new body and a new name he was still a Potter with the blasted Potter Luck, Yoshida-sensei just so happened to pass by the alley in the playground (that also happened to be a rather convenient blind spot).

She screamed.

Rin thought he could understand. Perhaps he wouldn't scream, not really, but he would surely be very surprised if he saw two six year olds who had obviously just been fighting, one with teeth marks on his neck and shoulder and the other with blood dripping down his chin.

As the obvious instigator (not really, but technically he was the more mature one in mind so the point was moot), Rin was the only one punished. Tou-san was called, the other boy's parents were called, and it was just a big mess.

(Rin managed to draw a healing sigil in blood on the other boy before someone saw fit to separate them. When the time came to show his parents the wound, instead of looking like he was mauled by an animal with sharp teeth, the boy looked like he got bit by a six year old and a wayward tooth had drawn blood. You know. How it _should_ have been).

Rin was taken home early, and the other boy's parents, after seeing the bite mark, decided not to press charges. Pretty soon, practically everyone had forgotten about the incident. Even Tou-san hadn't felt the need to do more than lecture him sternly and give him one long, inscrutable look.

His drinks smelled funny for a while after that, but Rin just forewent everything but water in response. Sedatives weren't the normal thing to prescribe little kids, right? (Human _kids, Rin, and you don't exactly qualify as human this time around, do you?_ )

Rin sighed one last time, reaching out a childish hand to run one finger down Yukio's cheek. He was careful not to let his sharp, slightly too long nails draw blood, and a self decrepitating smile tugged at his lips.

What was he even doing?

* * *

"Rin, get up! Get up, we have to go to school!" Yukio said cheerfully, fully dressed and glasses perched on his nose.

Rin groaned in response and tried to wiggle from the other's pestering hands. In truth, he was wide awake as soon as Yukio had climbed out of bed to get ready, but he enjoyed the warmth of his blankets far more than having to go further his mandatory education.

"Riiiin~" Yukio whined, tugging forcefully on his covers.

"Yuuukiiii~" was Rin's response, tugging back. Rin won, of course. Yukio had always been a sickly, weak child, more skin and bones then muscle. In contrast, Rin was able to easily down a fully grown man with a single punch to the stomach, but, well. He was different.

Yukio huffed in irritation, steel grey eyes glaring as chubby cheeks puffed up and flushed with color.

Rin thought he looked adorable, from what little he could see with his head partially buried under his pillow. Wanting to get a clearer look, he extricated himself carefully, only to have Yukio victoriously yank away his blanket in the same movement.

Maybe Yukio knew him a little _too_ well.

"Let's go let's go let's _go!_ " Yukio stressed. "You're so lazy."

"You're annoying," he shot back.

"Stupid."

"Know-it-all."

"Muscles for brains."

"Brains for muscles."

"That doesn't even make sense!"

They glared at each other until Rin broke first, rolling off his bed with a snort.

"I'm up already. What's for breakfast," he asked rhetorically, able to smell the scent of eggs and toast wafting its way upstairs.

"English spread. You should know, you're the one who asked for it," Yukio said, rolling his eyes _adorably._

"Oi, don't sass me. I'll tell Arisu, you know?" Rin said. A mischievous grin lit up his dark blue eyes as he struggled to pull on a T-shirt that smelled at least slightly bearable to his sensitive nose. The laundry had piled up again.

Yukio stuttered and blushed, eyes wide and glasses slipping down on his nose from how fast he whipped his head away. He had a crush on the blonde half-japanese girl from their class, which Rin thought was hilarious. Seriously, what kind of eight year old boy had the mental maturity to both not think girls had cooties, but also manage to get a crush on one? Merlin, Harry hadn't even started to notice he liked the same gender until he was fourteen and had a wet dream about Blake Zabini from Slytherin.

Ah, puberty, that two-faced bitch.

"A-anyway, I'll be downstairs, eating. Join us when you're ready." Back stiff, Yukio marched downstairs with all of his measly dignity. Feeling petty, Rin blew a rasberry at Yukio as he stepped out, and watched with interest when his shoulder twitched dangerously.

Yukio was so _cute_ when he was annoyed.

Growing serious for a brief moment, Rin checked on the sinuous thread connecting him to his _other_ power, and nodded himself saw once again no change. Well, no out of the ordinary change. The thread had been growing a bit thicker lately as the mysterious container struggled to keep up with his rapidly increasing flame output.

Plucking at the string, a smattering of sparks sprayed from his fingertips. Frowning slightly, he snapped his fingers several times until his index finger lit up with a pale blue flame.

A predatory grin grew on his face until at last the flame snuffed out, making his shoulders slump with a huff. Any more, and his lower back, eyes, ears, and gums would start itching, his nonhuman traits struggling to break free. Rin was smart enough to know that would be a _bad_ idea.

His flames crossed off his mental checklist, Rin moved onto the next object in his routine.

He made sure to take a deep breath and hold it in before lifting a long, slender finger to his mouth. Resting it lightly against one slightly too sharp fang, he bit down, drawing blood. Removing his hand before the blood had a chance to touch his tongue revealed a leaking incision that even now was rapidly healing before his eyes. Using the blood as ink, the runes for inner peace, tranquility, and harmony were quickly and carefully traced onto the back of his left hand, as they had been every morning since The Incident. It deserved to be capitalized.

A quick flare of his magic had the runes activating with a tingling cool sensation that rolled from the runes and throughout his body. Rin let out the breath he was holding and took in the metallic scent of blood. When nothing but a mild prickling sensation behind his eyes happened, he counted it as a win.

Only now did Rin bother getting dressed, and by the time he got downstairs Yukio was practically dancing in place by the door. Seeing Rin, he took off without bothering to look back.

Quickly grabbing a slice of burnt toast, Rin followed after his younger twin.

"Hurry up, Rin!" Yukio shouted tauntingly, a wide grin pulling at his cheeks. It revealed straight teeth with pearly incisors, which Rin regarded with amusement. Yukio may have inherited more of their human half, but it was nice to know he still had a bit of creature blood burning through his veins.

Time for another day at Haruno Academy...

 **Short Chapter. I'm sorry, but I have fallen into the world of Gamer fics, and I don't think I ever want to leave...**


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's Note: Yeah... No excuse...**

 **Should I time skip? Because I'm seriously planning for the childhood arc to last at least a _little_ longer, but I just want to write the smut, you know? (And plot... Plot is important as well...)**

 **I'm pretty sure I received a review a review asking why Rin/Harry had such control issues. (Then again, it's been a while since I bothered to check.)**

 **So the answer is it's because of reasons.**

 **No, seriously. I mean, I had always thought of Canon!Rin as having this amazing inner conflict between human morals and demonic anger, and I guessed I played it up a bit in this fic. If you want an actual reason, I'm going to write something about magic feeding the blue flames and making him feel something like PMS on steroids...**

 **That, or I just wanted an excuse to write angst.**

 **Chapter Three**

Rin didn't like school. Scratch that.

Rin _really_ didn't like school.

He wouldn't say it was easy, per se. Technically, he was still learning Japanese, and it had been a long time since he studied math, but this was first grade. He could handle it.

What he had a hard time with were the teachers. As adults, they obviously acted a certain way around children. Patronizing, ignoring him, or Merlin forbid trying to _play_ with him, these were all things that teachers did that just _annoyed_ him.

When Rin was Harry, he had been used to patronization _on the surface._ Then the adults would turn around and say, "You can deal without a meal for today, surely," or "My boy, you did good killing Quirrell."

Here, it was, "That red crayon looks a bit to small for you to hold well, dear. Have this one."

Then the crayon would be plucked out of his hand without so much as a by your leave, and he'd have to start all over with drawing his Runework because he could only use _one_ crayon, dammit!

Rin stared down at his coloring paper in irritation, having said thing just happened to him. He was almost finished with the second level, too.

Beside him, Yukio looked at his paper curiously. "What's that?"

"Well, it was supposed to be a polynomial framework with _laguz_ base accents and a string of other letters that roughly translates to ' _Fire without light, come,'_ but now its a mildly useless paper covered in scribbles," Rin said, mouth twisting down into a mulish frown. (It was a _frown_ , dammit, he was _not_ pouting!)

Yukio blinked once, twice, as he tried to process what Rin had just said. "I'm... sorry?"

Rin blew out his breath with a puff, rolling his eyes. "Don't be. It's Yama-sensei's fault. Repeat after me, 'Everything is Sensei's fault.'"

"Everything is Sensei's fault," Yukio repeated obediently, still looking a bit confused.

"Good boy." Rin ruffled his hair, a bit calmer from his dose of Yukio flavored adorableness.

A bell rang out, and Yoshida-sensei, the very same one who had seen The Incident a few months ago, clapped her hands.

"Alright class! It's playtime, so line up at the door and- _ **Haruko put down those scissors or so help me** -_"

Rin tuned out, giving his paper one last irritated look before gripping Yukio's hand and pulling him towards the door.

Recess was tedious, though not quite as boring as school. He mainly spent the time either napping with Yukio, or secretly watching over him as he played with the many brats surrounding them. Rin didn't know why he bothered. After all, it was obvious that none of them were worthy of Yukio's attention. He had tried to tell him this once, carefully explaining all the reasons why Yukio should be playing with his big brother Rin instead, but had only received a head pat and a, "Go back to sleep, Nii-san," in return.

He was _not_ obsessed. It was obviously a brother's prerogative to protect their younger sibling from infectious, moronic cretins.

This time he was once again safely ensconced withing the leaves of a moderately tall oak tree. Careful to keep his cloths from catching on the rough bark, he observed in a _nonstalkerish way_ as his brother approached a rather cute girl playing on the swing sets. She had sunny blonde hair, coffee-brown eyes, and a charming gap in her teeth from where she was missing a tooth.

Her name was Momoka Arisu, and Rin _did not_ hate her.

Sure, she may be even cuter than him, and just barely a little less cute than Yukio. She may be the object of Yukio's crush, who Yukio played ball with despite the fact of there being a _perfectly good Nii-san to play with instead._ She _may_ have received Yukio's _very first Valentine chocolate_ last month instead of _him_ , but he has _totally forgiven her for that._

Rin didn't hate her at all.

That wasn't to say he _liked_ her, though.

"A-ano, good morning, Arisu-chan," Yukio blushed, pushing his glasses up his known when they almost fell off again. Rin gave a quiet yet manly squeal at the sight, and couldn't help but envy how cute he looked with glasses. Harry didn't look nearly as cute when he did that. Mostly just scrawny. And half-starved.

The point was, Yukio was way more adorable than Harry.

"Hi, Yu-chan! Wanna play?"

Rin bristled. How dare she call him Yu-chan! Only Rin could call him that!

"Mn!" Yukio gave a squint-eyed smile, and Rin was instantly mollified.

Cuteness was justice, after all.

* * *

After Yukio-watching, some more bullshit schooling, and an utterly uninteresting walk home from school, Rin collapsed onto his bed. Yukio was taking a nap, so Rin had to be _productive_ , meanwhile.

This usually meant he was huddled in his bed, hunched over an English to French book, or a Japanese to Greek book, or a French to Swahili dictionary that had a _really_ interesting story as to how it got that red stain on the cover.

The reason he was doing this was because he was a Runemaster. While it sounded impressive, it didn't say much of his skills in reality.

A Runemaster was a wizard who studied the power of the written word. This meant, aside from some necessary expertise in Wards and Arithmancy, he had to know a _lot_ of languages. In order to be first qualified, he had to be semi-fluent in at least four, with one of which being magical. * _cough*Parseltongue*cough*_

That still left him as an amateur Runemaster, though. The general rule of thumb was that the more languages you knew, the better a Runemaster. And Rin was determined to be an _amazing_ Runemaster.

That didn't mean studying wasn't _boring,_ though.

After a while had passed he paused in his work, eyeing the clock. Surely Yukio must be awake by now...

Silently stepping out of his room, his feet padded softly down the hall only to stop abruptly in front of Yukio's door. Muffled voices made their way to his ears, and, hesitating, he knelt down and pressed his head to the keyhole.

"-danger from demons."

 _Tou-san? What was he talking about?_

"What does that mean, Tou-san? Exorcists?"

"Our world, the human world, is called Assiah. Here, corporal beings such as humans, animals, and plants exist. Our surroundings are physical. Solid. All in all, it wouldn't be an exaggeration to call it the _real_ world." His voice was husky, the light tone concealing a dark undercurrent.

 _Assiah, huh. Where are you going with this, old man?_

"Right. Assiah. The human world," Yukio recited slowly, as if trying to commit everything to memory.

"Beside our world, is another world. If I had to describe it, it would be a dream world. There, everything is the product of the mind, and demons slip through its reality like water. This world, our mirror, is called Gehenna. The world of demons."

 _No. Merlin, please no._ A shiver ran down his spine, and his too sharp nails bit into the palms of his hands.

"You said that before, Tou-san. That demons are dangerous."

 _No._ He was bleeding, he noted distantly.

"That's right. Demons are very, very dangerous, especially to those who cannot see them."

 _NO._

"But you said I could see them. What do you mean?"

"See those black things in the air? Those are Coal Tars. They are a type of demon."

 _Nononono..._ He felt a sinking feeling in his gut, dreading where this was going.

"Eh?! But they aren't dangerous. I see those all the time!"

 _Yukio..._ A flutter of hope touched his chest, and the dread lessened.

"Oh, they are dangerous. These ones particularly are especially destructive when in groups. They gather around darkness and depression, enhancing and feeding off it. Right now, however, they are merely exploring. Their energy is weak enough that they slipped under the church wards."

"So... What you're saying is that all demons are dangerous, but some demons are less dangerous, and can be left alone...?"

 _Yes, Yukio. Can't you see? I'm not dangerous._

"Yes. And in that vein, some demons are too dangerous to be ignored, and cause a constant hazard to people. That is where Exorcists step in."

"That's so cool! Am I going to be an Excorcist?"

 _No._

"Of course. It's why I'm telling you this."

 _Please, Yukio._

"What about Rin? Can we tell him too?"

 _I... I'm not a freak..._

"No we cannot, Yukio-kun."

 _Yukio..._

"Why not?"

 _ **Yukio...**_

"Your brother cannot be an Exorcist, because he is a demon."

* * *

 **Alright, chapter over! I literally wrote half of this in one sitting. Aren't I amazing?**

 *** _crickets chirping..._**

 **...Suggestions are appreciated. Constructive criticism treasured. I'll give a metaphorical cookie to whoever gives me a long, thoughtful review, that despite being grammatically correct uses emojis effusively. That takes skill.**

 **Hey, how much of you want this to be a tacky angsty smut fic that despite having highly unrealistic sex is still enjoyable to read, and how many of you want to focus more on plot and worldbuilding and character development? Because I have no idea what sort of tone I'm pushing for now.**


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